Social Work Under Pressure – A  Vicious Cycle.

Gill Whalley.  February 2022.

I qualified as a Social Worker in 2010 and moved from working in a Local Authority to working at Amber Family in 2014. Over this time, I have had my own experience of Social Work but also met so many Social Workers from all over the country.

When I started my journey to becoming a Social Worker, I didn’t envisage I would work in child protection, as serious case reviews had convinced me that this was not the place for me. I had so many reservations about how vulnerable I would be. I was scared that I would become solely responsible for making decisions that would impact the well-being of children. This was further exacerbated by the media scapegoating one Social Worker who had made significant mistakes.

However, following a final placement in a Local Authority’s initial assessment team, I found myself working within front-line Children’s Social Care. The one thing that eased me into this role was a supportive manager and a fabulous staff team. As the placement progressed, I naturally found myself becoming a qualified Social Worker within this same team and felt that I was supported. I will always be grateful for this experience and the colleagues who continued to teach me as a newly qualified Social Worker.

Since Amber Family opened, we have worked with Local Authorities from all areas and have met numerous Social Workers. I have met so many great people who clearly want to be good Social Workers and adhere to the BASW Code of Ethics. However, it is evident that the pressure they’re under and the workload they have, is significantly impacting their ability to do this. More often than not, I meet Social Workers that have no line manager or they have a manager who is uncontactable. I have seen the struggles that some have to go through to get someone more senior to help or support them. Furthermore, we meet Social Workers who are allocated families that they have inherited from other team members who have unexpectedly left their roles or are off sick. I know that I’m not the only member of the Amber Family team that has taken on the role of supporting a Local Authority Social Worker who is stressed, feels under pressure and is unsupported, as their case load mounts up. It is not unusual for us to see Social Workers once and then find out that they have left their position, which starts the unfortunate cycle again.

The pressure of the pandemic has further exacerbated these issues. Staff are unexpectedly off sick or are trying to work whilst juggling caring responsibilities. Furthermore, Social Workers have been denied face-to-face office support from colleagues as a result of home working. I know when I worked in the Local Authority, I greatly valued the safe space of an office where I could observe and learn from my colleagues but also have that on-hand peer advice and support. I do not believe that this can be replicated in a virtual way, which in turn, has denied so many people the support that they need.

Whilst we see these dilemmas from a professional’s perspective, we also experience first-hand, the impact it has on the families we work with. We see and hear their frustration when appointments are changed or cancelled visits are late, families can’t get hold of their allocated Social Workers or promises are broken. Understandably, this impacts the relationships families have with the Local Authority. From a parent’s perspective, they feel that they are heavily scrutinised by Social Workers who have high expectations of them, yet the Social Worker’s expectations are not met in return.

As we come out of the pandemic, I hope that Social Work teams will reunite and have a safe, supportive environment within which they can work. We need to remember the importance of peer support and friendships in the workplace. I hope that the well-being of front-line workers is at the forefront of planning in Social Care. Social Workers have been key workers and will have many war wounds as a result of these unprecedented times. As such, they will need time to recover and repair, but this won’t be possible without support. In turn, I believe that this will result in an improvement in staff retention, and health and wellbeing, which will, of course, improve family experiences and outcomes.

Let’s all look after each other, be kind, offer support and … remember why we wanted to be Social Workers in the first place.